Medley: Bank of Bonifay moving forward

BONIFAY – With the end of the attempt by Protective Life of Birmingham, Ala. to purchase the Bank of Bonifay, BOB Chief Executive Officer and President Guy Medley said the bank is moving forward with improvements and changes. Medley discussed those changes in an interview last Thursday.

The bank has branches in Bonifay and Chipley. It was established on Feb. 1, 1906.

“In the past year the Florida Office of Financial Regulation issued an order to the bank to correct several areas,” he said. “Recently the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued an order replacing the state’s order.”

The cease and desist order mandated improvements in areas like lending and bank capital. “We have taken this order seriously and are committed to meet all of these requirements,” Medley said. “I feel our strategy is designed to aid the bank in weathering these fragile market conditions.”

Medley said that the FDIC made two changes to the deposit insurance program in the past year. “The first change was to increase deposit insurance on all interest-bearing accounts to match those of established IRA accounts from $100,000 to $250,000.

“The second was to increase insurance on all non-interest-bearing accounts to an unlimited dollar amount. This means your deposits are even safer.”

Reuters News Service reported on April 1 that Bonifay Holding Co. terminated the agreement under which Protective would buy the bank.

Reuters said that under the purchase agreement either party had the right to terminate if the acquisition was not completed by March 31.

Medley said it was Protective that terminated the agreement. “Protective did not want to continue the contract at the time and they dropped the offer,” Medley said.

Medley would not comment on why the agreement was terminated but it was reported in various news media that Progressive, a financial services and life insurance corporation, was interested in obtaining the bank so they could participate in the federal Capital Purchase Program. Under terms of that program a life insurance company must own a bank or thrift.

The Bank of Bonifay has assets of $236.6 million as of March 31, up from $232 million the year before.